The fall sports All-League teams were recently announced and Harker definitely made its presence felt.
The girls volleyball team was a CCS Scholastic Champion, with Rachel Cheng, grade 12, earning a first team nod, and Lindsey Trinh, grade 12, and Lauren Napier, grade 11, taking home honorable mentions.
The football team made it to the NCS playoffs for the second year in a row, thanks to many superb individual efforts. Anthony Contreras, grade 11 was the league offensive MVP and James Pauli, grade 11, was the league defensive MVP. First team honors went to seniors Will Park and Saketh Gurram, and juniors Nate Kelly and Angel Cervantes. Second team honors went to seniors Danny Reidenbach and Davis Howard, and junior Jalen Clark
Finishing ninth in CCS, the girls golf team was home to co-league MVP and league champion Katherine Zhu, grade 11. Katelyn Vo, grade 9, was a first team honoree. Vanessa Tyagi, grade 11, and Vienna Wang, grade 12, received second team honors, while Alexis Gauba, grade 12, and Larissa Tyagi, grade 9, received honorable mentions.
In girls tennis, junior Elizabeth Schick and freshmen Rachel Broweleit and Gina Partridge picked up first team league honors. Second team went to Srivani Vegesna, grade 9, and Connie Miao, grade 12. Kathleen Cheng, grade 11, and Amanda Cheung, grade 9, received honorable mentions.
The girls water polo team was represented by Meghana Karinthi, grade 11, who received first team honors, and Abigail Wisdom, grade 10, who earned second team honors.
The boys water polo team had an amazing year, earning its first trip to CCS as league co-champs and being named CCS Scholastic Champions. Arben Gutierrez-Bujari, grade 12, was named the most valuable field player and Misha Ivkov, grade 12, was named co-most valuable goalie. Gutierrez-Bujari, Ivkov and Arnav Tandon, grade 12, were all named to the first team, with Gutierrez-Bujari and Tandon also earning D2 coaches All-CCS honorable mentions. Matthew Hajjar, grade 10, was also named to the second team.
Niki Iyer, grade 12, finished her incredible high school cross country career as league MVP, league champion and third place in CCS. Lilia Gonzales, grade 10, Gloria Guo, grade 11, Ryan Adolf, grade 10, and Peter Connors, grade 11, were all cross country honorable mentions.
Congratulations to all the hard-working Harker student athletes! Go Eagles!
Instrumentalists and vocalists greeted the arrival of winter with a series of spirited performances at this year’s Lower School Winter Music Concert, held Dec. 1 at the Bucknall Theater. Music teacher Louis Hoffman led the Lower School Orchestra, which kicked off the concert with a rendition of Handel’s “La Rejouissance” and later offered a rollicking rendition of “Jingle Bell Rock.” The Lower School Jazz Ensemble, also directed by Hoffman, trotted out its versions of Sonny Rollins’ “St. Thomas” and “Mr. PC.” The Toni Woodruff-conducted Lower School String Ensemble contributed a lovely medley of Beethoven pieces and a performance of “Joust” by Richard Meyer. Directed by Kellie Binney-Smart, the Bucknall Choir performed a series of seasonal tunes, including the Brenda Lee favorite “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”
As a special treat, the middle school’s Grade 6 Orchestra, directed by Dave Hart, and middle school vocal groups Vivace and Dynamics, directed by Maryloie Espinoza, made special appearances midway through the program.
Last month, Kate Schafer’s marine biology students took part in the Shark Fin Summits, in-class events that had students deliberate and come to a consensus on a recent piece of legislation regarding the sale of shark fins. A separate summit was held for each period of the class.
Schafer was inspired to hold the summits after seeing library director Sue Smith’s presentation on infographics at a teacher orientation meeting early in the school year. It also presented an opportunity for Schafer to bring multiple disciplines into her classroom. “I have been interested in finding ways to give students an exposure to interdisciplinary learning, and this was a fantastic opportunity for that,” she said. “Many students in our debrief expressed how much they appreciated having what felt like a real world experience, and said it got them thinking about possible careers that would cross different fields.”
Students represented each of the interest groups with a stake in the legislation – environmentalists, the fishing and restaurant industries, animal rights activists, cultural organizations and the ecotourism industry. Each representative gave presentations that were created following weeks of exhaustive research. In the end, the groups agreed “that an organization of stakeholders would regulate the capture and sale of shark fins,” said upper school librarian Lauri Vaughan, who developed the summit with Schafer.
Learning, innovation and design director Dan Hudkins moderated the first summit, while history teacher Damon Halback moderated the second. Each had different approaches to facilitating discussion, “but both were amazing and highly successful in terms of creating amazing learning experiences for the kids,” Vaughan said. “Both were able to weave in the basics of civics and legislative process while guiding a very complicated discussion.”
Schafer said the students learned many valuable lessons about the process of discussing and making decisions on legislation. “I think that the students were all struck by how difficult it can be for people with different stakes in an issue to come to a consensus,” she noted. “We were clear from the beginning that this wasn’t a debate and that there would be no winner.”
Raymond Banke, grade 10, recently received a distinguished honorable mention in the Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Student Contest. The contest, which received more than 2,100 submissions from nearly 70 countries, recognizes and rewards the work of middle and high school students who bring awareness to issues impacting the health of the world’s oceans.
Banke’s piece, titled “Protection from the Sun?” was submitted to the art category. As a distinguished honorable mention winner, Banke was awarded a prize of $250.
In addition, upper school science teacher Kate Schafer, who acted as Banke’s sponsor during the contest, received a sponsor recognition award. Congratulations!
In November, journalism teacher Ellen Austin and upper school head Butch Keller, along with senior Alex Youn and junior Michael Sikand, traveled to Indianapolis for the 2016 National High School Journalism Convention. Keller, who in August was named the Journalism Education Association’s administrator of the year, attended the conference to receive the award. Austin was recognized for winning the National Scholastic Press Association’s Pioneer Award.
There was plenty for students to see and do as well. “There was a multitude of advisors, teachers, administrators and professionals at the conference giving presentations and workshops on various topics regarding high school journalism,” said Sikand. “Given my position as social media editor of our online site [www.harkeraquila.com], I took interest in one seminar, where a marketing professional spoke to us on how to give an online news site a distinctive brand.”
In addition to bolstering his existing skill set, Sikand said he also learned new methods for reaching online audiences with various tools and branding techniques.
In mid-November, Grammy-nominated Ghanaian musician and activist Rocky Dawuni visited lower school history teacher Tobias Wade’s fourth grade class. Students learned about various aspects of Ghanaian culture, including a board game called oware, a popular dish known as fufu and kente cloth, a type of silk important to Ghana’s history and culture.
“All of the students loved the visit,” said Wade. “They were really enamored by Rocky and even persuaded him to sing for us.”
Dawuni, whose brother is the chief of the Konkomba tribe of northern Ghana, also answered questions about the role of the chief in a democratic society and the daily lives of children.
“Overall, it was a great opportunity for the students and myself,” Wade said. “It really opened their eyes to a whole world around them.”
The girls basketball team went 3-0, winning the Pescadero Tournament over the weekend. The Eagles opened the tournament with a 57-12 win over host Pescadero. Jordan Thompson, grade 12, led the Eagles with 31 points. Next, the Eagles took down Alma Heights Christian 49-13, getting 22 points from Satchi Thockchom, grade 11. In the finals, the Eagles defeated Harbor 63-47, with another 31 points coming from Thompson. The Eagles face off with Kirby Prep on Tuesday and Leland on Friday, both at Blackford.
Boys Basketball
The boys basketball team went 2-1 and finished third at the James Lick Tournament over the weekend. Gene Wang, grade 10, had 14 points in the Eagles 74-38 win over Andrew Hill. In a 67-56 loss to Wilcox, both Wang and Jack Connors, grade 9, led the team with 11 points. And the Eagles took third place, beating the host team James Lick 63-62 in OT. Justin Jia, grade 12, earned all-tournament team honors. Next up for the boys basketball team is the Lynbrook Winter Classic starting this Thursday.
Girls Soccer
The girls soccer team played to a 3-3 tie with Half Moon Bay last week. Joelle Anderson, grade 12, scored all three goals for the Eagles. Harker travels to Gunderson on Tuesday and hosts Yerba Buena on Friday.
Boys Soccer
The boys soccer team dropped a close 4-3 match with Mills last week. The Eagles try to pick up their first win of the season this week with a home game on Wednesday against San Mateo, then an away game on Friday at Woodside Priory.
From conserving water to winning science competitions to journalistic accolades, Harker made the news several times last month. Find out more below!
Los Altos Online – Nov. 30, 2016: Senior Manan Shah is featured in a story about his success in this year’s Siemens Competition, as well as his upcoming trip to Washington, D.C., for the final stage of the competition.
DyeStat Cal – Nov. 23, 2016: Harker track phenom Niki Iyer, grade 12, is mentioned in a preview of the CIF State Championships.
Science News for Students – Nov. 22, 2016: Cynthia Chen, grade 9 is featured in a story that details her Broadcom MASTERS project, a method of saving water by storing seeds in pods.
The Indian Panorama – Nov. 18, 2016: Manan Shah, grade 12, is hailed for his regional win in the 2016 Siemens Competition, which granted him entry to the finals.
San Jose Mercury News – Nov. 11, 2016: Journalism teacher Ellen Austin and upper school head Butch Keller are featured in a story about the awards they received from the Journalism Education Association.
India West – Nov. 10, 2016: Manan Shah, grade 12, is the subject of a story about his regional win in this year’s Siemens Competition.
San Jose Mercury News – Nov. 10, 2016: Elizabeth Schick, grade 11, and Gina Partridge, grade 9, are mentioned in a Mercury News community sports roundup.
SiliconValley.com – Nov. 5, 2016: Cynthia Chen, grade 9, is mentioned in a story about Silicon Valley students in the Broadcom MASTERS science competition.
Nine Harker students were recently named members of the All-State High School Honor Choir by the California chapter of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). Seniors Ashwin Rao and Tiffany Zhu, juniors Krishna Bheda and Millie Lin, sophomores Karli Sharp and Catherine Wang and freshmen Emily Chen, Joel Morel and Kalyan Narayanan will perform with the choir at San Jose’s Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph on Feb. 18.
These students make up the largest group ever from Harker to successfully audition for the choir, and the third largest group (tied with Lynbrook) from any school in California. It is also the first time three grade 9 students have qualified for the all-state choir.
The ACDA operates the All-State Honor Choirs in collaboration with the Southern California Vocal Association. To qualify, students must first successfully audition for a regional honor choir in their area. Those interested in singing with the all-state choir are then evaluated to determine whether they will participate.
“This Little Light of Mine,” the 2016 upper school fall choral concert, brought upper school vocal groups together at the Nichols Hall auditorium on Nov. 16. Bel Canto, Camerata, the student-run Guys’ Gig and Cantilena performed a wide selection of songs, ranging from Bel Canto’s renditions of the traditional spirituals “Turn Me ’Round” and “Shine On Me” to the Guys’ Gig reimagining of Bruno Mars’ “Just the Way You Are” to Cantilena’s version of Abbie Betinis’ “We Have Come,” which featured instrumental accompaniment from violinist Ashwin Rao, grade 12, and Sumi Wadhwa, grade 11, on tambourine.
The final number of the evening featured all of the performers on stage together, singing a triumphant version of the civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome.”